The Eldeen Reaches cover tthe northwestern region of Khorvaire to the Shadowcrag Mountains. The eastern Reaches feature fetile plains and rolling hills, but dense forests cover the majority of the nation. These forests house some of the most primeval trees on the continent and ancient growths that have survived the rise and fall of empires and witnessed the arrival of humans on the shores of Khorvaire. The forces of magic permeate these woods, and strange beasts and mischievous fey roam the land. Many dangers lurk in the deep woods, and the humanoids who make thier homes in the these forests don’t always take kindly to visitors.
In the Age of Monsters, when goblinoids forged an empire across Khorvaire, the Eldeen Reaches were thee domain of orcs who sought to live in harmony with the wilderness. The orcs were devastated and deecimated in war against the daelkyr. As a result, the forest was seeded with aberrations and horrid creatures formed by the sinister shapers of flesh.
Millenia passed and humans came to Khorvaire. As the nations that would one day join together as Galifar took shape, the Eldeen Reaches were largely left alone thanks to the haunted forest. Still over the course of centuries, the common races slowly drifted into the Reaches. Deep in the ancient forest, those who heard the call met with the Great Druid Oalian, an awakened greatpine who has watched over the wooods for more than four thousand years. He taught those who heard his call the ways of the wild and the duties fo the ancient Gatekeepers. His teachings inspired all the druid sects that eventually grew up in the reaches.
Centuries passed and the druidic society grew within the Towering Wood. The druidic sects fragmented as they began to diverge from Oalian’s original teachings. Meanwhile, the nation of Aundair claimed the fertile plains along the eastern edge of th woods. Despite minor conflicts between shifters and humans and druid sects, the region prospered.
The Last War proved to be the undoing of the old order. Aundair pulled its forces back to protect its heartland and eastern borders, leaving the Eldeen Reaches to fend for themselves. Bandit lords sponsored by Karrnath and the Lhazaar Principalities harried the farms west of the Wynarn River, using the forest as a base and staging ground. In the south, Brelish troops crossed the Silver Lake to occupy Sylbaran, Greenblade, and Erlaskar. In 956 YK, the Wardens of the Wood rallied the farmers and peasantsm crushing the bandit army before it knew what was happening. In 959 YK, they finally drove the Brelish forces back across the lake.
Angry at the Audairian crown for abandoning them, the people swore allegiance to the Great Druid, breaking all ties with the lords of Aundair and resisting several Aundair attempts to regain control. Since 958 YK, the Reachers have considered themselves an independent nation, and they were finally recognized as such with the signing of the Treaty of Thornehold.